Archive for the ‘education’ Category

“For many years the OECD has run programs that have explored various topics in architecture for education and has supported a related Centre for Effective Learning Environments [pdf]. It maintains a useful Database of Best Practices in Educational Facilities Investment and every few years publishes a sort of showcase document highlighting new and best practices in school design around the world. The latest volume, Designing for Education: Compendium of Exemplary Educational Facilities 2011, is well worth browsing, as a related slide presentation from Professor Christian Kühn of Technical University of Vienna and a short essay from 2010 by Peter Lippman which asks, Can the physical environment have an impact on the learning environment?

Whatever decisions are eventually reached, considerations of ICTs use in schools as well as planning related to school architecture should flow out of larger, more fundamental considerations of the educational strategies and learning philosophies at the heart of a schooling system, and of the role of education in helping communities and societies realize their larger developmental objectives.”

AN : Information & Communication Technologies can impact on the action and environment of schooling and learning.

Like this:

“In his Washington Post article, Christensen concludes that perhaps what is most critical now is to “move beyond today’s time-based rules—those policies, regulations and arrangements that hold time as a constant and learning as the variable, which inhibits the ability to move to a competency-based learning system.”

With the rise of online education, the future of learning will be a student-paced culture as opposed to our current forms of custodial education, which are teacher-based. Students can hold down a job while working on their Masters. Children in unstable homes can ask for help online instead of working it out on their own. Anyone can “go back to school” without having to really go anywhere. With online education, learning never has to end. And certain online education models actually have the potential to reduce the costs of both delivering education for the university and the cost of tuition for the student.

Human beings with the best education tend to do the best in the marketplace. “I think it will not be long before people will see that those who took their education online will have learned it better than people who got it in the classroom, and that’s exciting,” says Christensen.

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise — with the occasion.

“Whether you’re a new or seasoned Twitter user, you likely come across confusing hashtags that probably look like a bunch of nonsense.

First, What’s A Hashtag?

The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keyword or topic in a Tweet. Any Twitter user can categorize or follow topics with hashtags.Those hashtags (usually) mean something and are a great way to get a tweet to appear in search results or discussion monitoring.

For example, the popular #edchat hashtag is used by thousands of users every Tuesday. It makes it easy (sort of) for people to monitor what’s happening in the conversation rather than having to try and guess what topics you should search for. By having a conversation on Twitter using hashtags, you also make it easy for any other Twitter user to join in.

How To Hide Your Hashtag Chat From Followers

When having a Twitter #hashtag chat, if you want to avoid overwhelming your followers, start any tweet you want to “hide” with @HideChat or (one character shorter) @HideTag. (Do NOT follow @HideChat or @HideTag. They exist only to help you hide your Twitter chats.) NOTE: This also works when live-tweeting events or shows.

You don’t need to do this with all your chat tweets (though you could). But it’s a good idea to do it with most of them so as not to overwhelm folks. You could also use this for conversations with someone that you didn’t want others to notice in your timeline, although direct messages would work best for that.

Sources

That’s why it’s probably helpful for you to check out the following list of popular educational hashtags. They have been curated by Cybraryman as well as by the Creative Education blog, tweetsmarter.com our personal usage list and hashtags.org.

The Most Popular Hashtags

#edchat – Education, worldwide (lots of US teachers). A really useful hashtag if you are interested in tweeting with a wide range of educators worldwide.

#schools – Massively wide ranging but used far less than #edchat or #ukedchat

Like this:

“Quitting college at 18 to move to Silicon Valley and pursue your startup is the stuff of Hollywood dreams. Now add a billionaire benefactor–PayPal founder and Facebook investor Peter Thiel–bankrolling you and under pressure to prove that entrepreneurship can rival Harvard as a path to success. The inaugural class of Thiel Fellows is blogging about their experiences for Fast Company. Dale Stephens wants to shake up education, one page at a time.

We live in a world where technology dominates the future, but I fundamentally believe education is a human problem. I wish curing our educational ills were as simple as making videos of lectures, or buying iPads for every student. The fact that education is more complicated than that is part of the reason I’m writing a book. Yes, one of those oldfangled paper contraptions.

When I am asked what I do, and I respond that I’m writing a book, I’m often scoffed at. In San Francisco the assumption is that if you don’t have your own startup merging Airbnb, Pandora, and Dropbox, your life is a waste.

Changing education isn’t quite as simple as starting a company, because we already hold beliefs about education. Before Airbnb, did you know that you needed to rent out your spare bedroom? Before Pandora did you know that you needed to stream personalized radio? Before Dropbox did you know that you needed to sync your files? The answer, in all cases, is no. However, if I asked you, “Did you know you need to get an education?” you’d be insulted. You’d also have very clear ideas about how to get an education.

Those preexisting ideas mean that changing education required more than building a technology company–it requires shifting our paradigm. I’m writing a book as the first step in shifting that paradigm and changing education. Surely technology will build solutions that help solve our educational problems, but efforts will be fruitless until we stop worshipping the SAT.

Another reason I’m writing a book is to take the time to put my own views on paper. It’s easy to forget, but I’ve only been on this path for six months and I haven’t had time to think through every aspect of education and come to my own conclusions. Writing a book gives me the opportunity to do that.

While I may have a Thiel Fellowship and have the next two years more or less guaranteed, the reality is that I don’t have a college degree. Publishing a book gives me credibility independent of the Thiel Fellowship. And, no, before you ask, that is not hypocritical. I am not against brand names–in fact, I think brand names are even more valuable than college degrees–a degree from Harvard means more than a degree from Hendrix. However, I don’t think brands of colleges will be the only brands that matter in the future. Therefore, I’m putting my money where my mouth is and publishing a book through Penguin over distributing a PDF on UnCollege.org.

The root cause of this questioning is not, I think, a lack of respect for writing, but rather a reflection of the intense pressure put upon child prodigies. Why do people think I’m a failure if I don’t change the world in two years? After all, I am only 19. I’ve only started shaking up this universe.”

Dale Stephens was homeschooled and then unschooled. Now he leads UnCollege.org. Perigee/Penguin will publish his first book about hacking your education in early 2013.

“Want to watch the expansion of schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past three decades? Or chart the difference in growth of educational attainment between South Korea and Mexico? Maybe you just want to easily compare with one click whether a bar or line graph better communicates your data. Now you can! EdStats, the World Bank’s free database for global education statistics, has launched EdStats StatPlanet — an exciting new data visualization and mapping dashboard for exploring country, regional and global performance on 19 key education indicators through interactive, animated world maps, charts and tables.

The StatPlanet platform was developed by developed Frank van Cappelle and was the 1st place winner of the World Bank’s Apps for Development competition, which was launched as part of the Bank’s Open Data Initiative, an effort that unlocks the Bank’s knowledge and development data for researchers, activists, students, and development practitioners across the globe. The application has been loaded with EdStats’ most up-to-date global education education statistics.”

It is the integration of information and knowledge of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) subjects with the creative industries that results in industrial design innovation. That is the key at and success of Steven Jobs and Apple. The education process of design and technology needs to be fostered not only in the UK as in this article but in all countries desirous of staying at the forefront of product development.

“Dick Powell, co-founder and design director at Seymourpowell commented, “The impact of design education in the UK – from school right through to higher education and beyond – has been immense. With this campaign we hope to highlight the far-reaching benefits and prosperity delivered to the UK by design education, and raise awareness of the subjects’ crucial role in helping maintain Britain’s position as an international innovation leader”.

Sir James Dyson adds, “Inventiveness helps the economy. Design and Technology is the only lesson where young people can apply science and maths in a practical way. If D&T is sidelined where will the next generation of engineers, designers and inventors get their inspiration from?” ”

Playgrounds are important. Physical activity is important. And the role of play is important. Adults in name of a lot of good things can stifle social physical interactions and creativity in growing children. Does a happy balance still exist between safety and unstructured play ?

“His philosophy seemed reactionary at the time, but today it’s shared by some researchers who question the value of safety-first playgrounds. Even if children do suffer fewer physical injuries — and the evidence for that is debatable — the critics say that these playgrounds may stunt emotional development, leaving children with anxieties and fears that are ultimately worse than a broken bone.

“Children need to encounter risks and overcome fears on the playground,” said Ellen Sandseter, a professor of psychology at Queen Maud University in Norway. “I think monkey bars and tall slides are great. As playgrounds become more and more boring, these are some of the few features that still can give children thrilling experiences with heights and high speed.”

After observing children on playgrounds in Norway, England and Australia, Dr. Sandseter identified six categories of risky play: exploring heights, experiencing high speed, handling dangerous tools, being near dangerous elements (like water or fire), rough-and-tumble play (like wrestling), and wandering alone away from adult supervision. The most common is climbing heights.

“Climbing equipment needs to be high enough, or else it will be too boring in the long run,” Dr. Sandseter said. “Children approach thrills and risks in a progressive manner, and very few children would try to climb to the highest point for the first time they climb. The best thing is to let children encounter these challenges from an early age, and they will then progressively learn to master them through their play over the years.”

Sometimes, of course, their mastery fails, and falls are the common form of playground injury. But these rarely cause permanent damage, either physically or emotionally.”